Explain any three steps taken by the Belgium government to accommodate regional differences.

(i) Constitutional provision which prescribes that the number of Dutch and French- speaking ministers shall be equal in the central government.

(ii) Many powers of the Central government have been given to State governments of the two regions of the country. The State governments are not subordinate to the Central Government.

(iii) Brussels has a separate government in which both the communities have equal representation. The French speaking people accepted equal representation in Brussels because the Dutch speaking community has accepted equal representation in the Central Government.

(iv) Apart from the Central and the State Government there is a third kind of government. This ‘Community government’ is elected by people belonging to one language community- Dutch, French and German speaking- no matter where they live.

(v) This government has the power regarding cultural, educational and language- related issues.